After making waves in the boxing world, Jake Paul may soon enter the cage for an MMA fight.
Paul is days away from a boxing rematch with former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley which takes place on Saturday in Tampa, Fla., but teased competing in the sweet science may not be his only venture in combat sports.
“People seem to forget that I was a state wrestler, Division 1 in Ohio, one of the hardest wrestling states,” Paul explained during a media scrum following Thursday’s pre-fight news conference. “I don’t see why if I can do boxing at this high of a level that I couldn’t do MMA at this high of a level.
“I’m gonna go get coached up by Jav Mendez, Team Khabib, and that’s that. They’re down, 100 percent.”
According to ESPN, Paul and Mendez have engaged in discussions about training at American Kickboxing Academy in the future. Paul says he would like to secure double-digit wins in boxing before making the transition to the cage.
Mendez is the famed trainer of former UFC champions such as Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov, among many other rising stars at AKA.
During the official pre-fight news conference in Miami, Paul initially expressed his interest to fight in MMA. “It will happen at some point, 100 percent,” Paul stated.
Woodley immediately replied, cutting off Paul’s statements to challenge him to an MMA fight.
“You a lie,” Woodley stated. “Let’s do MMA then. Let’s do this MMA after we do this boxing so I can elbow you in the head and knee you in the nugget.”
While Paul holds a win over Woodley in the boxing ring via split decision, he is unsure of who his opponent would be in an MMA bout and when the potential fight would take place.
Jake Paul says MMA ‘100 percent’ in future, will be trained by Khabib Nurmagomedov at AKA
